There Are Places They'd Rather Be
by novae mienai
Summary: They're not the type of couple to enjoy amusement parks. / Yamaken/Shizuku AU, oneshot.


They came here because the tickets were cheap. It was the end of the season, summer turning to fall, and when Shizuku caught wind of the discounted end-of-season price, she immediately consulted Yamaken about it.

"Really? It's far from what we usually do."

"I think it's something one should experience at least once in their lives, and the discount presents a fitting opportunity."

"Alright, if you say so."

He was always the one to pay for their dates—he'd argued hard for that. But as a compromise, Shizuku never let him spend more than thirty thousand yen on any single date or gift, and even then she believed she was being generous.

"Thirty thousand is a lot of money, Yamaken-kun. I would even lower the limit down to ten thousand, but I understand that your upbringing has given you a different approach to budgeting, and you might find it hard to work with lower numbers."

Why did he tolerate her again?

So anyway, that's how they got here. It was rather cool and partly cloudy; there weren't many people and the lines for the rides were relatively short. It was rather ideal.

They stood near the entrance as she studied a brochure showcasing the various rides and attractions. After a lot of nodding to herself, she looked up.

"Okay. I have planned what I want to try. We will begin with the spinning cups," she said, taking his hand and leading him forward.

Honestly, he didn't care much for rides. Especially ones that spun too much, they made him feel sick more than anything.

The seats were sticky with generations of kids' summer sweat. As the ride cranked to life and their cup started to glide across the ground, Shizuku met his eye.

"So we're supposed to spin this?" she murmured, touching the round wheel between them.

"If you want."

Frowning with concentration, she gripped the wheel and turned it. The cup spun a little, then stopped.

"Huh. I made that happen?"

"You sure did."

"I see now."

She spun the wheel for longer this time, and the cup picked up speed. Shizuku, caught up in her fascination, didn't notice Yamaken's wince.

She eventually got into the groove, and by the end she was spinning it so fast Yamaken felt like he was riding on the highway with Iyo driving. When the ride stopped, he sat slumped in his seat, breathing shallowly.

"Come on, Yamaken-kun. The ride's over."

She grabbed him by the sleeve and dragged him out.

"Well, that was interesting. I've never experienced such strong centripetal force," Shizuku intoned, dragging him behind her as she marched forward with her sure, rapid gait.

It was difficult to walk in his dizziness.

"Hey, can we sit down for a bit?"

She stopped, studied him. "Is something wrong?"

He shook his head. "No, nothing. How about we get something to eat?"

"Already? We just got here. But okay."

So they went to one of those stained old food trucks and got a large fries to share. They sat on an old plastic bench, passing the cup between them.

"Carnival food," he scoffed when he took his first bite. "How do they manage to mess up this bad?"

"It tastes fine to me," said Shizuku with her mouth full.

"You can have it then." He placed the cup in her hands, then pulled out a water bottle, trying and failing to wash away the sewage-like taste of over-fried, over-salted potatoes.

It was better to just watch her eat, anyway.

When she'd finished, Shizuku pointed up into the distant sky. "We can try the big one next."

Yamaken followed the line of her finger and flinched. The park's largest roller coaster soared through the clouds above them—what was this one called? The Sonic Boom?

What a stupid name.

"You like those?" he asked slowly.

"I haven't been on one before. I'm curious."

Her expression was like she'd just encountered a type of math problem she'd never solved before.

Who would he be to refuse her curiosity?

In the end, the roller coaster really wasn't as bad as he'd expected. To forget his surroundings and the harsh wind and the splatter party of sickness going on in his stomach, all he had to do was concentrate his mind on the girl sitting next to him.

Shizuku, on the other hand, was calm and still as a statue, her expression not changing even as they hung for what felt like hours at the top of the loop-the-loop.

As they walked out, she muttered, "Well, that was okay. It made me think of Physics I. The dynamics questions."

Yamaken wasn't really listening, as it took all his strength to keep a straight face with his built-up nausea. He would _not_ be sick in front of her.

They went to one of the game booths next—he picked the one where you had to throw bowling balls into target rings. Of course, since Yamaken was Yamaken, it was almost too easy for him to dunk all five balls into the center 500-point ring, and he won free pick of the booth's vast stuffed animal collection.

Ah, yes, now this was straight out of Dating 101, wasn't it? The boy gallantly giving the prize to his girl…

Yamaken turned to Shizuku, smirking slightly. "Is there one you want in particular?"

Shizuku perused the rows of plushes with her usual serious expression. She paused at the chickens, then decided against it, instead pointing to a giant yellow duck.

"I didn't know you liked ducks," he said as they walked away from the booth, Shizuku's face barely visible behind the duck's fat beak and unblinking, soulless black eyes.

"I don't," Shizuku said. "I picked it for Natsume."

He won the prize… for another girl? Of course. Of course.

Still, he offered his arm out to carry it for her. Because he liked to be able to see her face.

Next, they went to the haunted house.

Now, if Yamaken was more naive, he'd have been excited for the haunted house. It was straight out of the book: the girl, scared to death, holding on to his hand as he guided her away from the guys in creepy makeup dressed as beheaded ghouls…! But he knew Shizuku better than that. She was way too mature to be scared by something so stupid and simple. Neither of them would feel very scared. They would both walk through the whole thing with complete poker faces.

But he was mistaken.

They were walking… walking… through the unconvincing Halloween mansion decorations that Yamaken could've sworn were bought at the chain of variety stores owned by Mabo's family… And then a tall figure shuffled out into their path.

Yamaken froze in his tracks.

Shizuku blinked.

"Yuuzan?"

"Excuse me?" the guy said. His face was painted white and there were red stains around his mouth that could have been fake blood, or strawberry jam.

"Ah, sorry." Shizuku shook her head when she got a closer look at his face. "With that wig… You looked like someone I knew."

But by that time Yamaken was nowhere to be seen.

When they met back up again outside, Yamaken was icy.

"It wasn't him," Shizuku placated. "It was just someone who looked like him."

Yamaken said nothing. He stalked ahead of her so she wouldn't catch the layer of sweat on his forehead.

* * *

It was late afternoon now; they'd spent most of the day just trying out different rides, but Shizuku had left most of them with not more than a nonchalant hum and a comment on what sort of physics questions the ride reminded her of. He himself was rather tired because he'd just tried to kiss her on the Ferris wheel but the damn thing was old and rickety and their car kept swinging like a madman's axe so he'd ended up just bashing against her forehead instead.

"Are you having fun?" Yamaken asked.

"I'm not particularly bored," she replied.

Not exactly the kind of thing he wanted to hear from her when they were on a date. He sighed. "So what do you think? You wanna ditch?" He smiled wryly. "This isn't my scene either, honestly."

The rides painted in saturated colours, the oily food, the litter crammed on the sides of the road—this might have been a popular date spot, but it was just not _them_. They took walks in the forest and on the beach. They went to the mountains with their friends and stole away during dinner to stargaze instead. They went to classical music concerts and art films and history museums. They went to the library and argued about English books. They met up at each other's houses to quiz each other on chemistry questions. That's what they did.

"Okay," Shizuku agreed. "I think we've tried most of the things I wanted to try, anyway."

"Alright then." He smiled and took her hand. "Then let's get going." He thought a moment. "I'll take you somewhere else to make it up to you. Where would you like to go? The library?"

"Yes," Shizuku said immediately. "We really think alike. But first we can stop by Natsume's to drop that off." She pointed to the duck under his arm.

"Whatever you say," Yamaken said easily, and they left that old dump, hand in hand.

* * *

a/n: I definitely feel like they're the type to look out at all the loud kids and obnoxious mascots and rides and things and just be utterly bored, lol. Instead they prefer to stay inside and have Snobby Stimulating Conversations :D I feel like established relationship!yamaken/shizuku looks to outsiders like a cold and haughty sort of couple... but they have their dorky moments when they are alone :)

now I think about it, Shizuku isn't exactly the type to limit the amount Yamaken should spend on her- if he wants to buy her expensive things, she'd probably let him after he convinced her how convenient it is for her. BUT I _can_ imagine her thinking Yamaken is too free with his money, and forcing him to budget "for his own good" LOL

next I want to write something angsty, and something from Shizuku's POV. I MUST WRITE WHILE I HAVE THE TIME AND MOTIVATION

review if you are out there!


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